FIRST REPORT: HERSHEL HERSKOWITZ FILES NOMINATION FOR LAKEWOOD TOWNSHIP COMMITTEE

Hershel Herskowitz has officially filed a petition with the Ocean County Clerk to run for membership on the Lakewood Township Committee, FAA News has learned.

R' Hershel is running as an independent candidate on the ballot for the General Election.

The deadline to file petitions as an independent candidate was yesterday. R' Hershel is the only independent candidate running in Lakewood, FAA News has confirmed.

R' Hershel emphasized to FAA News that originally he did not plan to run this year, however, he agreed to throw his hat into the ring because numerous community members highlighted to him that this year specifically there is an open seat being vacated by Mike D'Elia and therefore he would not be running against any incumbent, a factor that caused previous election runs to look like "fighting."

In other words, there are other new candidates in this election, however they are all running equally to win Mike D'Elia's empty seat.

His campaign slogan is "The People's Lakewood."

"The other candidates simply do not know the needs of our community," said Herskowitz, a veteran Downtown business owner. 

"People say don't run because Lakewood is anyways a 'goner.' I feel that by saying that, the problems will only get worse," Herskowitz added. "I believe in Lakewood and I want to steer the town to fix whatever is left."

Areas of specific focus for R' Hershel is his drive to ensure that infrastructure needs are properly reviewed for all new construction approvals, and that the Township runs a lot more transparently and is answerable to the public.

Currently, Lakewood's land use boards do not have their own traffic engineers to provide rebuttals to the developers who bring their own, non-local experts who simply testify that there are no traffic concerns. In contrast, Jackson's land use boards do have their own in-house planners and traffic engineers.

This is something which can change in Lakewood.

"It's one thing to develop land, but continuing to permit unabated land construction without consultation with our own in-house experts and with no associated traffic studies and infrastructure improvements is simply not the way," R' Hershel stated.

"Transparency is a major focus for me. The Township works for the people. Not the other way around," R' Hershel added.

Finally, R' Hershel noted that unlike any of the candidates, he is a long-time major supporter of R' Aron Lang and he wants to continue to openly work with R' Aron who is working tirelessly to prevent us from getting stuck with even worse school debt despite that no one else is helping him.

Election Day is in November.

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